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President Mugabe

Mukachana Hanyani Correspondent
“The UN is a body that encompasses the countries of the world. For him (President Mugabe) to say that he wants to form a splinter organisation, it shows that he is not normal,” fulminated Obert Gutu, the MDC-T spokesperson in an interview over the weekend. He was responding to revelation by President Mugabe that Africa was ready to pull out from the dysfunctional United Nations organisation that has failed to reform.

Gutu went on to say that President Mugabe’s threats to pull out of the United Nations showed that he was out of touch with reality. Well, Gutu as a lawyer and a spokesperson of an opposition party, should know better than a layman’s assessment of events.

In his endeavour to support and inform his constituency, Gutu must dwell on facts as they are and let his people listen to him without distortions of events. He is the spokesperson of the alleged most populous opposition party hence he should not mislead the public and his supporters.

Some of us were there and clearly heard what President Mugabe said.

The President made it clear that the African continent had threatened to pull out of the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) when that body is not reformed and feels that reforms are not necessary. The President did not say that Zimbabwe is going to pull out of the UN but the AU is the one threatening to pull out. So the President was clear and straightforward on that.

For those quick to forget, the African continent has been calling for the UN to reform its Security Council arm so as to allow at least two African countries to have permanent seats and also veto powers but the so-called superpowers led by the USA, Britain and France have been scuttling all such efforts. So the move which the African continent is mulling to take cannot be blamed on only one African leader in the form of President Mugabe like Gutu wants his gullible people to believe.

Gutu went on to say that President Mugabe’s threat to pull out of the UN and form another organisation shows that he is not normal. As a learned lawyer he should not have zeroed a continental move on one leader. Actually Gutu has shown that his appetite for supporting anything Western has driven him to think that African leaders cannot do anything on their own.

It is naïve and uncalled for for Gutu to think that African leaders should keep on clinging on to the UN body when the same is failing to embrace African interests. Instead of saying that President Mugabe is out of touch with reality, this writer concludes that it is him who has he failed to grasp what the President said.

It should be known that the argument given by the so-called super- powers that they should remain the only ones having veto powers as they are the founders of that UN body is nothing. There is need for the so- called superpowers to accept that in a global village all countries are equal hence there should be no country which should bully others.

Some so-called superpowers and Gutu need to accommodate the issue of a global village. If during his studies, Gutu has missed that in the global village all countries are equal, he needs to revisit it so that next time he will give comments with a well-informed position. Actually Gutu should differentiate Zimbabwean issues from continental issues.

Any right-thinking and reasoning person would see that the African continent has been receiving raw deals from the UN body. All the international bodies have not been doing well to the African continent. They always impose their wills and wishes on the African continent. And Gutu thinks that African leaders should keep quiet while the African continent is viewed as belonging to second class citizens. The difference in the colour of our skin pigmentation should not be viewed as the basis to be downtrodden by other human races.

The African continent has not been receiving raw deals from the UNSC alone, even the formation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) seems to have been formed with African people in mind. Africans were misled into believing that the ICC would deal with the crimes against humanity targeting everyone. For that reason quite a number of African countries ratified the ICC statutes thinking that all those involved in the crimes against humanity would be dealt with accordingly.

But since it was formed many years ago the ICC has only managed to arrest and try only former African leaders ignoring to deal with people like George W. Bush and Tony Blair, former leaders of the US and Britain respectively. These two former leaders killed innocent and vulnerable people in Iraq when they lied that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Currently, Charles Taylor, the former Liberian leader, is serving life sentence in a British jail as he was allegedly convicted of crimes against humanity when he was still president. The former Ivorian president, Laurent Gbagbo, and his wife are awaiting trial at The Hague as they are accused of the crimes against humanity.

Omar Al Bashir, the Sudanese president, has been indicted to stand trial before the ICC as he is accused of war crimes during the civil war in that country which led to the formation of a new country, South Sudan. He has now been restricted to his country because once he flies out agents of the ICC would be after him as they plan to arrest him.

So the African continent has not been given equal opportunities in the international community, meaning that it is their right to call for reforms in such bodies. Even in sport, the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has not been treating African teams equally hence reforms need to be implemented there.

Europe, with about 53 qualifying countries, is given 13 slots to qualify for the World Cup whereas Africa with 54 countries is given five slots. Could that be said to be fair representation of the World Cup if such slots are shared like this?

For that reason Gutu should stop his appetite for supporting anything Western without looking at the merits and demerits of such positions. The African continent is right to call for reforms of the UNSC so that all countries in the global village are treated equally. As a reminder to Gutu, President Mugabe did not threaten that Zimbabwe would pull out of the UN but he said that the African continent would do that if the UNSC reforms are not met.

So, in future, Mr Spokesperson, take your time to listen attentively if the Head of State and Government is addressing the masses so that you do not distort his message.